Race You to Mako
by CrazyHayniac
Summary: Rikki: Well, this is a valuable lesson, next time Zane's drowning, don't help. Rikki may have said that back then but this was now, and everything was different.


**Several months after graduation, Rikki and Zane get back together and start to slowly rebuild their relationship. Set about six months after that.**

"Race you to Mako," Zane joked as he and Rikki walked by the docks one afternoon. They had left the café in the capable hands of Emma and Ash for the time being so they could enjoy a beautiful afternoon together.

"Like you'd even stand a chance in the zodiac," Rikki retorted. Despite her remark, Zane could tell from the look in her eye that she wanted to best him.

"You actually want to race, don't you?" he asked, a knowing smile on his face.

"I'll give you a ten-minute head start."

Zane scoffed, "I don't need ten minutes."

"Yes you will, honey," Rikki spoke, patting Zane's cheek in a sarcastic manner.

"C'mon." Zane slung his arm over Rikki's shoulder and they headed down to the dock where the zodiac was. Zane hoped in, got the motor going, and took off. "See you, Rikki," he called.

"Yeah, when you get to Mako!" she called after him. Rikki glanced down at her watch and started the ten-minute countdown. She looked at her phone to pass the time. As the ten minutes drew to a close, Rikki looked around to see if anyone would see her dive in and transform. When she saw that the coast was clear, she dove in.

Ten seconds after reaching the water, her tail formed and she sped off. Before long, she was approaching Mako. Rikki went to the surface to see where about Zane was. It was only about 30 meters to his boat but after taking a closer look, Rikki saw that Zane's boat was capsized and Zane was nowhere in sight.

"ZANE!" Rikki yelled, going back under the water and racing over to his boat. She looked in the water frantically for him.

Something caught in the light a few meters down and Rikki realized that it was Zane's watch. She turned in the water and headed down to him. She gave him a little air before taking him to the surface. Even with fresh air, he still wasn't breathing.

"No, Zane, don't leave me," Rikki pleaded with him, tears welling up in her eyes. Mako was in sight so Rikki did what she could and went to Mako's shore as fast as possible. She couldn't be bothered to dry her tail off; she was too concerned with giving Zane CPR as best as she could to get him breathing again.

Several tense minutes later, Zane began coughing. He rolled over on his side to let water fall out of his mouth from his lungs. "Zane!" Rikki exclaimed, throwing her arms around him without a second thought.

"What happened?" he asked.

"The zodiac capsized, you almost drowned," Rikki explained somberly.

"Man, we need to stop almost drowning," Zane laughed.

"It's not a joke, we need to get you to the hospital."

"Okay, call Will and have him come over and pick me up with his boat."

"Right." Rikki pulled herself away from the surf and dried her tail off to be able to get her phone and call Will. Surprisingly enough, her phone got signal and Will had soon arrived in his boat. "I'll meet you there," Rikki said.

"Okay," Will agreed, pushing his boat out to sea. Once they were out of sight, Rikki went and brought the zodiac to Mako's shore to retrieve later. She was soon on her way to the mainland where she met up with Will in the hospital's ER waiting room.

Zane seemed to be doing fine but since this was his second near drowning experience, they kept him overnight to make sure nothing took a turn for the worse. He was released the next morning and with Will's help, they went back to get the zodiac a few days later.

After getting back from retrieving the zodiac, Rikki and Zane returned to the café and went to do work in the office.

"Zane."

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever do anything like that to me ever again. I can't lose you again."

Zane nodded. "I love you too."

 **A/N:** While watching episode 13 of season 1, I was inspired by Rikki telling Em not to save Zane next time he was drowning. This basically means I wrote this in the last couple hours before publishing it which is very abnormal for me. Anyway, I hope you like it. Let me know what you think. Thanks,

-CrazyHayniac


End file.
